February 13, 2021: With the Covid-inspired lockdown still in effect here in Ontario, seven weeks running with no end announced yet, I wanted to go back to a happier time. In recent weeks I’ve been thinking a lot about times when I’ve gotten together with friends to share memories and laughs. I wondered briefly which moments stick out the most and it didn’t take me long to focus on a huge university reunion from just 16 months ago. I started this piece not long after returning from Montreal. Now seemed like a great time to finish it and smile at the thought of better times, then and in the near future.

From Langley Hall To Here

In walked Joe. The ever-elusive Joe. The same wiry, soulful, curly-haired Joe who once lived on next to no money, ate his morning porridge from a borrowed dented pot with a broken-off handle, and made a giant tub of Price Club peanut butter last an entire school year.

With his arrival, on this Saturday mid-afternoon in Montreal (October 12, 2019) – on the 24th floor of Hotel le Cantlie Suites – the moment was finally real. The reunion of the original Pitsters plus friends, from Langley Hall circa 1991, was here.

The other eight of us had already made at least one appearance each and it was a mind-blowing moment as each one joined the gathering: at the hotel, at lunch at Schwartz’s deli, at the Concordia University bookstore. It was like a dream where an important person from your distant past randomly shows up and you wake up saying to yourself “What the hell is Andy doing in my dream?” Continue reading →